I knew I shouldn’t—which is why, I thought, I maybe should.

To be precise, he’s a client of the daycare center where I work, the dad of one of the kids. He’s married. His wife is hot, especially for her age, which is 40. She has curly red hair and half a dozen piercings and a tattoo sleeve with the Virgen de Guadalupe surrounded by flames. She likes to ask about my ink, which I don’t like to talk about but I was going along with it because if she liked me, I thought, that might make it easier for her husband to get away with fucking me sometime.

I wouldn’t pay any attention to him normally; he has a receding hairline and bad teeth. But he has the confidence of someone who’s pretty rich and doesn’t especially care too much whether you respond to his flirtation because there are a million more where you came from. I know there aren’t a million more like me, though—at least not in his world. I have big eyes and I’m just a little pudgy in just the right places and I’m a well-practiced flirt and I’m not stupid. Plus, I’m extra forbidden because I work a the daycare and his wife kind of loves me. So I knew he’d do pretty much whatever I wanted him to.

I let him take me out to dinner on December 26. He suggested it, of course, said something about thanking me for taking care of his daughter, how his wife liked me too, whatever. All I heard was what he was saying, which was, let’s fuck. I got off at 3:00, and his mom was picking his kid up after work to have a sleepover. His wife was out of town. I told him I’d meet him at Caruso’s steakhouse, where the steaks are like $80. I didn’t wait for his answer.

I don’t even need to tell you about dinner. I put on my one nice dress, he bought me five drinks and a steak, we talked about his work and my apartment and light politics and whatever. Obviously I did not mention Dave, and he didn’t mention his wife.

After dinner we stepped out the door of the restaurant and into the lobby of the adjoining hotel. Immediately, I knew what I was going to do. I gave him a hug tight enough for me to feel his boner and I left him standing there, blue-balled. I laughed as I texted Dave to tell him I was coming over, so he should run out and get me a pack of cigarettes.

Photo by Mick Rosacci (Creative Commons)